THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



39 



FRUIT REPORT FOR COUNTY OF 



LAMBTON FOR 1885. 



{Prepared for the Annual Meeting of the " Fruit 



Growers' Association of Ontario," at Wingham, 



Ont., Sept. 16th and 17th inst.) 



Gentlemen, — I am pleased to be 

 able to make the following report of 

 the standard fruits and their culture 

 for the year in our county. I still 

 think that the first place, both in posi- 

 tion and importance, should be given to 



THE APPLE. 



Our soils are in general admirably 

 adapted for the successful growth of 

 the apple, and, as a consequence, the 

 planting of apple trees continues to be 

 very large and very general. The time 

 will come when this county will be 

 noted among the noted counties for the 

 production of very excellent apples. 

 The crop this year was very large and 

 very fine. It is impossible at present 

 to gather the full statistics of the crop 

 in barrels for the whole county, but as 

 near as can be ascertained it is close in 

 the neighborhood of 125,000 barrels, 

 valued at $100,000, with the growth of 

 the trees. And in this section alone 

 the marketed crop was 40,500 barrels. 

 This is a very large product, and repre- 

 sents $37,125 of positive income to our 

 farmers and growers of this section 

 alone. An item that they have not 

 heretofore calculated much upon, as 

 their apples formerly represented no 

 particular value. But when the eager 

 buyer comes into the orchard and offers 

 of his own free will to take all their 

 apples, both fall and winter fruit, and 

 give them a good price for them right 

 in their hand, it at once stamps the 

 crop as a thing of real, positive value 

 that is not to be trifled with. The 

 great trouble has been that our people 

 have planted too many varieties, but 

 they are now gradually learning better 

 through reading and observation, and 



Ke in their later plantings restricting 

 emselves to fewer and those mostly 



standard winter sorts. One of the 

 buyers told me to-day that our apple 

 crop was by far larger and better than 

 he had any conception of. That the 

 worst apples to handle were Fall Pippins 

 and Snows, and that he should sti'ougly 

 advise the farmers of this section to re- 

 graft many of their early ripening apple 

 trees with hard winter sorts, and then 

 our country would be one of the very 

 best in which to pack apples for distant 

 markets. The prices offered this year 

 have been for fall apples 75c. per barrel, 

 and for winter apples $1 per barrel ; 

 the purchaser to find the barrels and 

 pack them, and the farmer to pick the 

 apples and draw tliem to the market. 

 About one third of the apples bought 

 were fall, and brought in this section 

 $10,125, and the other two- thirds being 

 winter, brought $27,000, or a total of 

 $37,125. The sorts mostly grown in 

 the county have been, for summer, 

 Early Harvest, Red Astracan, Sweet 

 Bough, Tetofsky, Early Joe, ifcc. These 

 are used mostly for family purposes. 

 For fall, almost everything is found in 

 the section, but the best and most popu- 

 lar are Duchess of Oldenburg, Colvert, 

 St. Lawrence, Maiden's Blush, Fall Pip- 

 pins, &c. But in young plantations the 

 people run into the other extreme, and 

 plant nothing but winter sorts to the 

 exclusion of all others. For winter, 

 Baldwin best of all, afterwards Northern 

 Spy, Rhode Island Greening, American 

 Golden Russet, Grimes' Golden, Riim- 

 bo, Snow, Tal man's Sweet, Ben Davis, 

 Yellow Bellflower, Seek-no-Further, 

 Wagener, &c. When we consider the 

 great value of the apple crop, it is quite 

 clear that greater attention will annu- 

 ally be given to it, and the improve- 

 ment in its management and culture 

 will be very marked. The question of 

 overstocking the market has been 

 brought up, the farmera at fii*st not 

 liking the prices offered for their apples, 

 but when the net proceeds are consi- 



